Genetics and Obesity.
Obesity genes are also one of the obesity causes. Obese parents, very often, are an obesity cause. Being overweight and obese tends to run in families. If one or both parents are obese, chances of their children being obese are 3 times higher than children whose parents are not obese. These genetic causes of obesity are also due to the fact that families do share food habits and physical activity habits which are passed onto the children.
Obesity Genes.
Studies have found that 80% of children of two obese parents were obese as compared to only 10% of obese children of parents of normal weight.
High calorie foods and physical inactivity may be the custom of the house where by children too are exposed to those foods and sedentary life style. The obesity gene also determines what type of fat build up will be there in the children – whether it will be cellulite or abdominal fat or subcutaneous fat.
However, switching over to healthy food and physical activity by the family reduces the chances of obesity in children.
Genes also determine your appetite and fat storing tendency. Obesity genes can make you a voracious eater and can also make your body store more fat than somebody else.
Leptin and Obesity.
Certain hormones involved in fat regulation are also controlled by our genes. Leptin is a hormone present in the fat cells which controls our appetite, curbing it when the fat stores are high. Genetic variations can cause leptin deficiency leading to loss of control on the appetite which causes you to overeat and become obese. Leptin and obesity, therefore, are inversely proportionate to each other – meaning if leptin decreases, appetite and obesity increases.
However, when genetic cause of obesity is not in effect, obesity is linked to high levels of leptin. Leptin is produced in the fat cells. Due to more and bigger fat cells in obese people, more leptin is produced. And the reason for overeating inspite of high leptin levels is believed to be due to development of leptin resistance in obese people.
Certain ethnic groups are more prone to obesity due to the genes. For example, obesity is more common among Hispanic women and non Hispanic black women than among non Hispanic white women. The term “Hispanic” here refers to the Mexican Americans.
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